Logano takes Richmond, Honeycutt tightens the Truck bubble and New Hampshire leads Week 34 (2026)

The week ended with two very different kinds of pressure. Joey Logano won Richmond by 0.392 seconds, while the Cup field still has two races to sort out the last Chase places. The Truck Series has one race left to settle its final Chase transfer, NHRA heads to Brainerd for its penultimate regular-season stop, and IMSA's GT title fights move to VIR. This issue covers Aug. 10-16, 2026, with upcoming times converted to UTC. 1

Richmond reshapes the Cup picture

Logano led 95 of 400 laps and took the lead for good during the late pit-stop cycle with 25 laps remaining. Chase Briscoe led a race-best 171 laps, but a late brake problem left him 0.392 seconds short. Austin Cindric's third place moved him from 16th to 15th in the standings, which matters because the 16-driver Chase field begins at Darlington in three weeks. 1

Finish	Driver	What to remember
1	Joey Logano	0.392-second win; 95 laps led. 1
2	Chase Briscoe	Led 171 laps, his first Richmond top 10, and clinched a Chase place. 1
3	Austin Cindric	Rose from 16th to 15th in the standings. 1
4	Denny Hamlin	Kept the points lead, now 115 points ahead of Ryan Blaney. 1
5	Chase Elliott	First top 10 in nine races and a formal Chase clinch. 1
6	Kyle Larson	Finished sixth after making the Richmond to Knoxville double. 1
7	Christopher Bell	Finished seventh for Joe Gibbs Racing. 1
8	Josh Berry	Led the Wood Brothers' top-10 finish. 1
9	William Byron	Hendrick's third car in the top 10. 1
10	Alex Bowman	Completed Hendrick's four-car top-10 run. 1

The race's swing point came in Stage 2. Zane Smith spun and hit the outside wall on lap 125, and the caution caught Bubba Wallace and Ty Gibbs on the wrong side of the green-flag pit cycle. Only 12 cars were on the lead lap at the lap 230 caution. Logano and Briscoe then turned the closing stint into a brake-versus-track-position fight. 1

The Chase bubble is clearer, but it is not comfortable. Shane van Gisbergen holds 16th with a 50-point cushion over Ryan Preece. Ross Chastain sits 63 points behind van Gisbergen. New Hampshire and Daytona are the only races left to set the 16-driver field. 1

Honeycutt turns the Truck finale into a one-race chase

Kaden Honeycutt led 225 of 250 laps at Richmond, swept both stages, and beat teammate Corey Heim by 1.313 seconds. Layne Riggs finished 15th, but he still carries a 61-point lead into New Hampshire. 2

Finish	Driver	What to remember
1	Kaden Honeycutt	225 laps led, both stage wins, second win of 2026. 2
2	Corey Heim	Finished 1.313 seconds back for a Tricon 1-2. 2
3	Christian Eckes	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing's Chevrolet completed the podium. 2
4	Shane van Gisbergen	Fourth in his Spire Chevrolet before the Cup doubleheader. 2
5	Grant Enfinger	Used an alternate pit strategy to strengthen his Chase position. 3
6	Jake Garcia	Moved to 21 points behind Ankrum for the final Chase position. 2
7	Chandler Smith	Stayed in the Chase fight with Front Row Motorsports. 2
8	Tristan McKee	Impressive Truck Series debut after winning at Berlin. 2
9	Gio Ruggiero	Put another Tricon Toyota in the top 10. 2
10	Daniel Hemric	Rounded out the top 10 for McAnally-Hilgemann. 2

The final Chase place now belongs provisionally to Tyler Ankrum. His team was penalized for having too many men over the pit wall, but he recovered to 11th. Stewart Friesen then crashed into the Turn 1 wall on lap 216 and finished last, moving Ankrum 20 points clear of Friesen and 21 ahead of Garcia. The Team EJP 175 at New Hampshire is the decision race. 3

Larson, McKee and a Road America title swap

Tristan McKee won Wednesday's 250-lap Super Late Model feature at Berlin Raceway by beating Bubba Pollard in a nine-lap sprint. The 16-year-old used the bottom line on the final restart, cleared Pollard, and then drove away in Wauters Motorsports' No. 5 Chevrolet. Evan Shotko's late crash left McKee and Pollard to settle the finish. 4

Kyle Larson then completed the strangest doubleheader of the week. After bringing his Cup car home sixth at Richmond, he flew to Iowa and led every lap of the 50-lap Knoxville Nationals finale. Sheldon Haudenschild finished second, Kasey Kahne third, James McFadden fourth, and Logan Schuchart fifth. The victory was Larson's fourth Knoxville Nationals title and paid $200,000. 5

IMSA's main-series story this week is a title reset and a VIR preview, not a new WeatherTech or Michelin Pilot Challenge race result. The new IMSA result came from the two-hour Airbnb Endurance Challenge finale at Road America, an LMP3 support championship. The No. 95 Toney Driver Development Ligier, shared by Wyatt Brichacek and Lincoln Day, won. Teammates Ari Balogh and Garett Grist finished second in the No. 30, moving from third in the championship, 40 points off the lead, to first after trouble hit both cars ahead of them. 6 7

Contracts and enforcement

Front Row Motorsports will keep Noah Gragson in the No. 4 Ford through the 2027 Cup season on a one-year extension. Gragson joins Todd Gilliland and Zane Smith as the team's three confirmed Cup drivers for next year. The team described the deal in its Aug. 14 announcement, and Motorsport.com reported that the agreement includes options beyond 2027. 8 9

Richmond also supplied the week's clearest rulebook news. Ankrum's too-many-men-over-the-wall penalty changed the Truck bubble, Ty Gibbs took an early pit-road penalty, and Austin Hill was penalized for an uncontrolled tire. NASCAR completed the Cup post-race inspection with Logano confirmed as the winner, then sent the Nos. 2, 9, 20 and 97 cars to the R&D Center for engine dynamometer testing; the Nos. 9 and 20 also face teardown inspection. 1

Aug. 17-23 watch list, in UTC

UTC start or coverage	Event and venue	Broadcast and the reason to watch
Thu Aug. 20 to Sun Aug. 23; final eliminations live Sun 17:00 UTC, FS1 coverage Mon Aug. 24 at 00:30 UTC	NHRA Brainerd Nationals, Brainerd International Raceway, Minnesota	FS1 carries qualifying Saturday at 03:00 UTC and Sunday at 02:30 UTC, then Sunday eliminations at 00:30 UTC on Monday's broadcast window. It is the 13th of 20 events and the penultimate regular-season stop before the Countdown. 10
Sat Aug. 22, 17:30 UTC	NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Team EJP 175, New Hampshire Motor Speedway	FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The regular-season finale decides the last Truck Chase transfer. 2 11
Sat Aug. 22, 20:30 UTC	NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Mohegan Sun 100, New Hampshire Motor Speedway	FloRacing. The 100-lap race follows Friday qualifying at the region's biggest Modified Tour stop. 12
Sun Aug. 23, 16:10 UTC green flag; coverage from 16:00 UTC	IMSA Michelin GT Challenge at VIR, Virginia International Raceway	NBC from 16:00-19:00 UTC, Peacock flag-to-flag, and SiriusXM. GTD PRO and GTD title fights are separated by 21 and 45 points across their leading groups. 7
Sun Aug. 23, 18:00 UTC	ARCA Menards Series Calypso 100, Illinois State Fairgrounds, Springfield	FS1 and the Fox Sports App. This is the series' first of two 2026 dirt races. 13
Sun Aug. 23, 19:00 UTC	NASCAR Cup Series Dollar Tree 301, New Hampshire Motor Speedway	USA Network, HBO Max, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Two regular-season races remain after Richmond, and the 16th-place bubble is still live. 1 14

Sunday is the useful sorting point for the week. The Cup race tests whether van Gisbergen can protect 16th, the Truck race has a direct Ankrum-Friesen-Garcia consequence, and VIR brings the two WeatherTech GT classes into the same title window. Brainerd adds the drag-racing version of the same problem: the regular season is nearly over, and the points leaders have one major stop left before the Countdown field takes shape. 7 10